


All Hail the Demon Lord, E.N.D

by TheBicycle



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Lucy Heartfilia, BAMF Natsu Dragneel, Dark Lucy - Freeform, Demons, I mean how can it not be, Multi, Possessive Natsu Dragneel, Protective Natsu Dragneel, Smart Natsu Dragneel, Will this Universe be darker?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:42:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26855413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBicycle/pseuds/TheBicycle
Summary: All right so hear me out, what if instead of Makarov finding Natsu in the forest it was the demons of Tartarus? I know this sounds interesting, so let's take a dive into this alternate world, after all, time is like a river, throughout its course are unexpected turns and pathways...
Relationships: Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox, Natsu Dragneel/E.N.D./Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia, Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Yukino Aguria/Rogue Cheney/Sting Eucliffe
Comments: 16
Kudos: 89





	1. Time is like a river

**Author's Note:**

> So of course this work is set in a darker universe with just one change in the timeline that brings about a bunch of changes. If it isn't obvious already this work will take time to get to each chapter but I will try to update as much as possible, I've never written something like this so I will appreciate some feedback from anyone.

Quite frankly Natsu had no idea where he was. Well not exactly, he was in the area that he and Igneel were staying, well at least he thought he was, it seemed somewhat familiar just...aged. He did smell the linger of Igneel’s scent that was at least a day old now and he was still unsuccessful in tracking where it leads to it was almost like Igneel disappeared into thin air. And there was no way that Igneel could do that, well at least he thought that he couldn’t.

“Igneel! Igneel! Where are you fat lizard?!” He shouted hands clenched into tight fists as he fought to keep the tears in his eyes and his lip quivered, he was getting frustrated and afraid, he couldn’t, no shouldn’t be afraid, Igneel was never scared of anything so neither would Natsu. He was brave, he can very well find Igneel on his own.

A branch cracked behind him and the pink-haired boys swirled around to see who was there, he lifted his nose into the air and took in a deep whiff. Whoever or whatever it was it surely didn’t smell human, or what Natsu thought a human might smell like, the only human he really remembered meeting was a pretty blonde woman with large brown eyes, she was nice to him.

“Who’s there? I can smell you, I’m not afraid!” Natsu scowled into the bushes and brought up his fists into a fighting position, preparing to set them alight and fight whoever was there.

“My Lord, what have they done to you?” A feminine voice asked from behind him, the young dragon slayer jumped in surprise and stared at the woman whose black eyes gazed pitifully at him. She had a pair of large golden horns that grew from the side of her head and pointed upwards, her dark purple hair was held back with a white band that allowed her bangs to frame her face. On her forehead, there was a small circular symbol with a small dot on the inside and surrounded by several dots around the top. She wore a white sash that was tied around her neck, a revealing blue-coloured leopard printed kimono adored her figure and exposed plenty of cleavage, it was held in the middle by a thick yellow ribbon. Her outfit was completed by dark green high thigh socks that showed her heels and toes.

Natsu frowned at her, “Ummm, do I know you?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“While they have reduced our Master to this pitiful form I can’t deny that he is quite cute.” Another feminine voice sounded from his left and he turned to look at the blue eyes that examined him in amusement. The woman wore a complex looking helmet that only allowed her mouth and eyes to be seen, from the side two wing-like pieces of hair curved out they sort of looked like ears. The woman wore a skin-tight suit that emphasized her figure and chest that revealed her thighs and part of her ass, her shoulders and arms are concealed by a long, striped jacket with flaring sleeves, a four-way split tailback, and a tall and gaping collar that completely conceals her neck. Said sleeves cover most of the woman's hands, which take the form of sharp and scaly talons, whilst a thick pair of bands wrap around the woman's thighs, stopping where a similar set of bird-like feet begin.

“W-what? Why are you calling me Master and Lord?” Natsu took a step back and a scowl deepened on his face. In front of him another figure stepped out, he seemed the most normal out of all of them. He long dark purple hair that was tied into a high ponytail, he wore a long, black jacket trimmed with a light-colored flame pattern; the lapels are a matching lighter color as well. The cuffs of his jacket are rolled up, revealing a light-colored inside, which contrasts the black outside of his jacket, and have a black line cutting through the edge of the fabric. The jacket itself is tattered and splits into four torn fabric segments at the tail. Beneath the jacket, he wears a frilly black v-necked shirt, lined in a lighter color, that closes down the middle and is adorned with a buckle just below his clavicle; just below this is a piece of fabric that Mard Geer keeps over this shirt but under his jacket, that circles the majority of the lower half of his torso. The rest of his attire is simple, consisting of light-colored pants that lay lazily over the top of rather plain black boots and have, on each leg, a seam running down the middle, as well as two pairs of buckles that form an X on the thigh and lower calf. However, the buckles on each thigh later disappear, leaving only the ones on each calf.

“Mard Geer believes that Master’s memories have been taken from him.” The man now known as Mard Geer narrowed his slanted eyes at Natsu as an entertained smile rose on his lips.

“What? But I remember everything, me and Igneel were just here two days ago and now he’s just vanished! I’ve never met you in my life!” He snarled at the man he simply just raised an eyebrow at him.

“But my Lord, the Fire Dragon King hasn’t been seen on Earthland for over 400 years and neither have you.” The woman that he saw first walked closer to him and crouched down.

“Take a look around you Master, does this really look like how you and the dragon left it?” The second woman spread her arms around her, Natsu took this time to take in his surroundings, fully. Now that he looked at it it really did seem like in the time that he woke up two days ago the landscape had truly changed. The trees were taller and the clearing that usually let Igneel spread his whole body down was now only small enough for him to set down a claw, there were even new plants that sprouted about that the pinkette had never seen before.

“You see Master, come with us and your memories will be returned.” She beckoned a finger at him. Natsu bit his lip, he felt quite conflicted, if he went with them then they could return his memories but what memories? All he remembered was being with Igneel ever since he was about...four, and he didn’t remember anything before that. But he was still confused about how he somehow managed to travel 400 years into the future. Surely they were lying, right? But what if Igneel came for him just as he left with them, Igneel could very well answer all of his questions as they can, Igneel would never lie to him, he never has.

The dragon slayer looked back up at them and connected his eyes with Mard Geer. “So if I go with you’ll return my memories and answer all my questions? Like why you keep calling me Master and Lord and how I’ve time travelled?” A sinister smirk spread across Mard Geer’s lips.

“Of course Master, Mard Geer thinks that he knows how Master may have travelled but let us get you home first, we have some ideas on how to restore you to your...right mindset.” Mard Geer stuck out a hand, Natsu hesitated for a second before reaching out to grab his hand and in a split second, they vanished.

Not even a few seconds later a short, white-haired man appeared from behind a bush and surveyed the area and a frown enhanced the worry lines on his aging face. “Strange, I was pretty sure that I heard voices. Maybe Anna gave me the wrong name of the forest.” He shook his head and walked back in the direction that he came from.

_ You see what I mean, just that one little change in the storyline can create floods and tsunamis of adjustments, that one chance encounter between Natsu and Makarov has created a whole new timeline that’s about to get a lot darker from here on out... _


	2. To be reborn anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birth is a remarkable thing, one which we don't appreciate enough. So let's rebirth ourselves to be reborn anew.

Natsu opened his eyes when he felt himself hit solid ground again, they appeared to have taken him to a barren, rocky wasteland on either side of him large spikes of rock broke out of the ground curving inwards on themselves, in front of him stood a large castle that had a resemblance to a gothic church.

“Woah, that’s huge!” Natsu let out as he stared at the structure in awe, the dark-haired woman looked down at him with a closed eye smile.

“Welcome home My Lord, Seilah will forever be in your service.”

“As will I Master, I am Kyouka but I’m sure you’ll remember all of us soon.” The second woman kneeled onto one knee and dipped her head. Natsu blushed and waved his hands in front of himself.

“T-there’s no need to bow, the quicker I get my memory back the quicker I’ll remember you all, right?” He glanced up to Mard Geer for confirmation, the demon nodded his head, he let go of the boy’s hand and began walking towards the building.

“Come along now Master, we have a lot to do today.” Natsu jogged up to him and kept in pace, his nerves raised more as they neared the building, they made it sound like he was someone important, and he guessed that meant that he ruled over and controlled a lot of people, and Natsu didn’t think that he was the right person to rule over others. Sure he guessed he was...decent enough at his magic but he was impulsive, reckless, and not smart in the ways that others expected him to be, he was better at using his smarts in a battle, most definitely not on perhaps ruling someplace. The doors creaked open by themselves, he paused for a second peeking up at the large doors, he let out a sigh, steeling himself and followed the three demons. The statues at the side of the doors seemed to follow his every movement.

As they entered there were a few demons and what he could presume were soldiers scattered about the dark hallways, as they passed they stopped in their work or walking and gave the three demons a respectful bow of the heads before their eyes rested on Natsu. They would sniff the air, at best he could assume they were trying to catch a whiff of his scent and confusion would cross over their features, and then they would go back to what they were doing.

“They’re just confused about what you are Master,” Kyouka whispered down to him.

“That I’m human or demon? I might even be part dragon now too, Igneel told me that by becoming a dragon slayer I become part dragon.” He rubbed his fingers on his chin and he furrowed his eyebrows, Seilah chuckled, using her sleeves to cover her mouth.

“Master has truly become even more powerful now, not only is he a fire demon but a fire dragon slayer.”

“I’m a fire demon?!” Natsu gasped in awe and was thrung into his thoughts of him being able to beat Igneel in a fight. 

“Of course Master, but you’ll know all of that soon, we’ve arrived at Hell’s Core.” Mard Geer opened the heavy metal doors that released a hiss of steam out from the cracks and then they all stepped into the dimly lit room that was illuminated by the blue glow that the capsules gave off, each of the glass capsules were attached by plant-like tentacles. But the capsules were empty and just filled with liquid.

“Kyouka-sama! Have you brought me a new specimen to work with?!” A girl bounced up out of nowhere startling Natsu, her black hair was styled into a bob and black rabbit-like eyes grew from her head and waved about in the air. She wore a white fluffy coat with pom poms along the sides, it was worn over a dark skirt and shirt and she had on a dark tie that said 1/16. Her white tights were tucked into knee-high dark purple boots. She swivelled around to look at Mard Geer a happy grin on her face. “Mard Geer-sama! You look as handsome as alwa-oooh who’s this?” She crouched down and poked a finger at Natsu’s face. “He’s quite cute, but he’ll be rather handsome in a few years.”

“Lamy, see what you can do in recovering our Master’s memory with Seilah. Mard Geer and Kyouka are going to gather the rest of the Demon Gates to discuss this matter.” Lamy’s face dropped as she turned to look again at Natsu.

“O-of course, anything for Master.” She quickly rushed off and whizzed around the tubes till she came across one that she found satisfactory and tapped on the glass, she fiddles with the switches that were on the bottom and the liquid drained out of the capsule and then it hissed open. “You can hop right in Master, after this you’ll look even cuter!” She cheered, Natsu gave a look at Seilah who nodded so he walked up to the tube and clambered in, Lamy gave his head a ruffle before closing the tube.

“My Lord,” Seilah walked up to the tube and placed a hand on the glass, “the process will hurt but you shall most certainly be pleased with the results and don’t panic when the liquid drains in, just breathe.” Natsu gulped but nodded nevertheless, he felt the coldness of the liquid touch his feet and seep upwards, before he knew it, it was over his head and invading his lungs. It took all of his will power to not hold his breath as the chilled elixir sap away the oxygen in his lungs he let out a gasp when he realized that he could actually breathe. He took in greedy gulps and began to calm himself down.

Natsu opened his eyes to the azure ocean that seemed to surround him, he could barely make out the silhouettes of Lamy and Seilah that resided outside of the tube, he stiffened as the strange plant-like tentacle that he saw outside the tubes stretched and latched onto his skin. 

“We’ll be starting the process now Master.” The pinkette didn’t have enough time to acknowledge Seilah’s word’s as his world was suddenly consumed in pain, his screams sounded more like a gurgle from where he thrashed about in the liquid. His visions was blurry. His head ached. It felt like someone had taken an axe and tried to split it in half and shove things in at alarming speeds.

They were right when they said that he will get his memory back, he felt it all come shooting at him at once, he couldn’t quite grasp what they were about when the rest of his body screamed at him in anguish. He thrust his head back as he felt the pain in his hands and feet, the bones were stretching themselves out, he was pretty sure that the skin was being torn apart as they elongated. A burning sensation started in his shoulder blades as the bones started to grow and snap apart, the skin on his back tore apart and something warm leaked from his back, but he didn’t care it hurt. 

It hurt so much. He wanted to stop. It must stop. But he wanted to know, he needed to know what on Earthland these demons were even talking about. So endure it he did.

Natsu felt pain like he did till his skull tore itself apart once again, his shrieks escalated in volume as his body spasmed. Then his sight went dark.

* * *

He felt like he was floating, he slowly peeled open his eyes. It was dark, but it wasn’t cold nor warm. Just right. He couldn’t see a thing, even though as a dragon slayer he could see quite well in the dark. Perhaps he was no-where, in an abyss, a void, just floating there waiting for something to happen. Where was he? Who was he?

E.N.D. 

That was his name. Etherious Natsu Dragneel, E.N.D. He was the strongest, maybe one of the strongest of all demons in Earthland but he was certainly the strongest demon of Zeref. Zeref that was his elder brother, Zeref Dragneel, the one that gave him a second chance at life with the cost being that he took his sibling's life. A fair price he guessed, a life for a life.

Technically he was over 400 years old, he had travelled through time somehow, with that dragon. Igneel, the Fire Dragon King, an idiot more like as intelligent as he was. He remembered that fight that he had with the lizard, neither had won and had retreated to lick their wounds. Why had they fought? Oh right, it had been when E.N.D was recruiting demons, of Zeref and natural-born to aid in his cause. But what was that cause? Was it to return to Zeref? Or was it to create a new age on Earthland where all demons could live free of human prejudice and violence.

Sure, demons could be just like humans sometimes, they gave in to their desires all the time: lust, greed, envy, pride, sloth, gluttony, avarice, wrath. But it was accepted and not hidden like the humans did, they weren’t hypocritical either, sure the Etherious did resort to violent methods that often left them caked in blood but it was in their nature. They didn’t resort to petty wars fueled by their greed and lust, it disgusted him, humans truly were the scum and all he was doing was helping out the rest of Earthland by simply getting rid of their existence.

He was sealed in his book, he was cornered by the blonde woman, Anna Heartfilia and Igneel, who somehow was magically healed up most likely by the Sky Dragon Grandeeny. And the fool decided to raise him as his own and teach him the magic that could be used to slay him, E.N.D almost laughed at the overgrown lizard’s own idiocy.

He remembered now, he was the strongest demon of Zeref, E.N.D, his mission was to kill Zeref, but that would be hard while he’s stuck in this body, the damned Celestial Mage had trapped him in the body of a 12-year-old, one who was quite childish be that, but he was smarter than he was given credit for, he supposed it was good that the boy craved for power and to be stronger.

He caught sight of something red in his peripheral vision and turned to look and whipped around to see what it was, his eyes narrowed upon settling upon it, a snarl left his lips as they curled around his teeth and his fists clenched.

“YOU!”

“Nats-”

“THAT’S _NOT_ MY NAME YOU FUCKING LIZARD! IT’S _E.N.D_!” E.N.D growled at Igneel, the dragon sighing and shaking his head.

“So you’ve already gone back to your hateful ways?”

E.N.D rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “Are you honestly expecting me to be all buddy-buddy with you after you took away my memories, my powers, who I was?!” He hissed with narrowed eyes.

“But it did you some good did it not?” E.N.D hesitated, while he did hate what Igneel did he would admit that it was...nice, he didn’t have the pressure of ruling over thousands of demons at the time, it was somewhat relaxing. But he couldn’t have that pleasure now, after all, it was only a matter of time till he would become E.N.D again, forced by either Zeref or his subjects.

“I suppose it did…”

“See, there’s nothing wrong with being kind and loving others is there Natsu?” The dragon dared have the nerve to smile at him and call him that name, again.

“I guess it would be pretty boring if I just ruled over all of the humans…” He mused, Igneel nodded feeling quite accomplished with himself.

“But…” A malicious grin spread across his lips as he stared down the King of the Fire Dragons, “It wouldn’t hurt to terrorize a few every now and then, I do need some guinea pigs to test out my new found strength of my Curses and dragon slaying magic. It would be so embarrassing to go up against Zeref only to fail.” He let out a nefarious laugh as he felt the world brighten and fade away as the dragon bellowed out the name that he hated.

“Oh and Igneel?” He spoke up and looked up at the dragon with child-like innocence. “I would be prepping my defenses if I was you. I’m coming for you~” He sang. E.N.D had always wondered if it was possible for dragon’s scales to pale, and by some grace, it was answered at that moment.

They could.

* * *

As he returned to reality he found his eyes half-open, his movements were somewhat sluggish as he lifted his head and widened his eyes to take in his surrounding. E.N.D was surprised that he could actually see through the water to look at Seilah smiling at him.

“Welcome back E.N.D-sama.” Lamy fiddles with the buttons on the side of the capsule, and the liquid began to drain, but he barely conceded it as he moved to step out of the opened glass. 

Seilah summoned a mirror and held it out in front of him. “There have been some changes to your appearance E.N.D-sama, would you like to take a look?” He responded by taking a step in front of the mirror. There had been some changes indeed.

He still had the long burgundy claws that replaced his hands and feet, they were sharp if he needed them to be but at the moment they were a bit blunt, his irises had shrunk in size to resemble narrows black slits with the whites of his eyes now coloured a pale red and he still retained the fade of black that covered half of his face making it constantly look like his face was shadowed. 

The new additions to his appearance were the rows of serrated teeth before he only just had pointed fangs, this he liked. From his back grew a set of floor-length leathery wings that were supported by scale-covered bones, he spread them out and let a claw rake over them, they were strong, that was good. Sprouting from his head was horns, they were dark and the same shade as his claws, they were like ram horns but instead of curling upwards, they curled down and out. He ran a claw along them, they were nice, they suited him, they made him look more intimidating, more demonic. A malicious, shark-like grin spread across his face as he fully took himself in.

“It’s good to be back Seilah, it’s good to be back.” He turned where he stood and placed a claw on his hip. “I do believe that it’s about time that the rest of the Guild be reunited with their Master. Seilah gather everyone into the throne room. Lamy, good work today, my new form is delightful, I will see to it that Hell’s Core is given new upgrades.” He flexed his claws and lazily walked to the entrance as the other demons rushed out to begin preparations.

He leisurely made his way to the throne room lost in thought. There really was a lot to do, he will admit he had fun frolicking around with Igneel learning dragon slayer magic, but now he had work to do, with the demons and Zeref. He no longer was the impulsive and reckless 12-year-old but he now had the abilities of a 400-year-old demon, somewhat but he wasn’t about to dive into the specifics. He first had to see about how well the Guild was managed during his absence, knowing Mard Geer it was almost likely handled quite well, the same as he left it.

He would then need to see about how the natural-born demons were and recreate any necessary alliances, possibly helping out any communities and creating a council with them, that had been on his list of to-do’s before he was banished to his book. Speaking of his book he wondered where it was, he didn’t know what he would do if it was in the wrong hands, he still needed to find a way to separate his life force from it, he pondered on the idea that maybe some of his power could still be locked up inside.

Eventually, he reached the doors to the Throne room, they were very gothic and had designs encrusted into them of the most famous demons of Zeref, one of them being himself in his first demon form. He placed his claws on the door and shoved them open, meeting the stares of hundreds of demons that gauped at him in astonishment. He took that as his queue to stride up to the Throne where Mard Geer was standing next to. On the steps to the Throne were the other Demon Gates: Kyouka, Jackal, Tempester, Keyes, Seilah, Ezel, Torafuzar, Franmalth, and one he didn’t recognize, as he passed him he made contact with the man and subtly sniffed at him.

A Demon Slayer. Interesting.

He seemed in shock, but his eyes were narrowed at him, E.N.D simply gave him a smirk as he ascended the last few steps and sat upon his throne. Mard Geer stepped forwards to talk to the rest of the Etherious that were gathered.

“After 400 long years, our Lord has returned-”

“You expect us to believe that  _ he _ is E.N.D?” A demon shouted out from the crowd as bellows of protest began to sound around the hall. The Deman Gates snarled and looked at E.N.D for permission to attack, he shook his head and looked at the rebelling demons in amusement as and slowly stood up.

He opened his mouth and let out a roar. An ear-splitting roar at that, it vibrated off the walls and attacked their ears forcing them to cover them and cry out in pain. E.N.D hated having to do stuff like this to his subjects, they’d already faced enough at the hands of humans, as soon as he saw them all clutching at their ears he stopped.

“You all finished complaining now?” He started in a bored tone. “Or would you like me to burn my image into your memories?” He growled at them, they bowed their heads in shame and got on their knees in a bow.

“Good, I see that we’ll all be getting along in the future, our goal to return to Zeref draws near and a new age approaches us.” He sat back down in contentment.

“All Hail the Demon Lord, the Demon King E.N.D!”

“All Hail E.N.D!” The chanting began and he rested a claw underneath his chin and smirked.

Yeah, he could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I wasn't sure what age Natsu would be around x777 some people say that he's at least a year to 2 years older than Lucy and about the same age as Gray so he's 12 in this timeline.
> 
> 2\. As you may guess Natsu/E.N.D is going to do something about Igneel, while he is somewhat grateful that Igneel raised him he's pissed at what he did to him in the past.
> 
> 3\. Next chapter will be E.N.D testing out and training his powers and beginning to spread his influence and make alliances.


	3. Who knew the highway to hell was this bloody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu has some pleasure in testing out his new powers meanwhile Anna finishes gathering the missing dragon slayers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I forgot that the Strauss sibling came later to the Guild but I can't be asked to re-write so they just came earlier.

E.N.D fixed his gaze upon himself in the mirror. It was weird being able to see himself again, he truly thought he never would, if Igneel had had it his way he probably never would have, his anger sweltered and kindled itself in his chest as he felt the sudden rise of his fire, but he wasn't sure which one it was. The curses or his dragon fire. He raised a claw and allowed it to trail a line across his cheek, his skin didn't tear. Not like it would have if he was still in his human body, E.N.D bared his teeth at the thought, it disgusted him yet at the same time he missed it. He would rip apart anyone that tried to tell him that he actually enjoyed his flights with Igneel, it even brought a small twitch to his mouth as he remembered Natsu's attempt at spelling. He was still Natsu though, just different, he had all of his memories now, he had always wondered why he was always picking a fight with Igneel. All he had to do was remember the time before Igneel sealed him and was tempted to go the nearest human settlement and raze it to the ground.

He didn't like humans much, when he was with Igneel he never saw any, he hated the way that the humans were so set on believing that they were the superior species and that whatever they did was justified, and if any other species did what they did it wasn't right. A growl ripped itself from his throat as he dragged his claws down his jaw, breaking the skin and allowing the black blood to bleed and drip onto the floor.

He was still confused about who he was, Natsu was his original birth name but he hated being called by that, it was just a reminder of how he used to be human, how easily he could've been one of those wretched humans. He understood that some of them couldn't help it, it was simply how they were raised and children learn and imitate their parents, but still they should have the knowledge to know that what they're doing isn't right.

His thoughts drifted back to the natural-born demons, he wondered how they had fared for the past 400 years. Before his fight with Igneel he met with some of their leaders, they had considered an alliance and most of the natural-born's had decided to go into hiding. They had seen the chaos that the war between the humans and dragons had caused and they couldn't be asked to deal with what the humans may do to them. Honestly, he understood, at times E.N.D would much rather just go into hiding and avoid the humans, they were pesky and troublesome and seemed to have a growing superiority complex. If trouble could be averted he would take the opportunity, it wasn't cowardice but simply basic tactics. Once he had finished training he would meet with Mard Geer to start gathering their current leaders and actually go through with the alliance.

Just as he lifted his claws to lap at the blood on his 'fingers' a knock sounded on the door. "Enter."

It was one of the guards, regardless of gender they all wore the same armour: a helmet with the face of it spiked up at the top and the holes for the eyes were made out of red glass that had technology embedded on the inside, an overcoat over the thin metal mesh that was fixed together with straps, scaled pants and metal-tipped boots with spikes at the bottom.

"Your private training chambers are ready Milord, the guards have captured two humans for you to test yourself on." A sadistic smile crossed E.N.D's lips, he curled his tongue around his fingers and lapped up the blood and turned fully to face the guard. He hoped that these humans were at least some of the worst of their kind, it isn't as enjoyable when they're rather innocent.

"Thank you, you may leave." They dipped into a small bow and shut the door behind them, the sound of metal against the stone floors of the Tartarus guild floors echoed away. E.N.D huffed, wiping away the remainder of blood that was on his face, he looked at himself in the mirror once again, at least it wasn't important clothes he was wearing, he would hate to damage his clothing while testing out his powers. Once he had finished fixing himself up he turned on his feet and headed for the doors and made his way to his training chambers. Along the way he was paid respect by the other demons that populated the building, he knew that the numbers would only increase in the next week as more demons returned to greet their Master. He knew that Mard Geer was the Master in his absence and he decided that he might keep it at that for now, it wouldn't do them much good if the Magic Council caught a rumor that he was back.

Thankfully the chambers weren't that far, the door looked much newer than the rest in the building, he wondered whether they replaced it or just got cleaned it to perfection. He shoved open the doors and waltzed inside, the room was more empty and plain than grand, then again if he was going to train in here it would have most likely been destroyed, he spied some runes encrusted into the stone, most likely to prevent any damage from occurring outside of the room. In the centre of the room, a man was knelt down, his hair was puffy and messed up, noticeable bags were underneath his eyes and a stitched up scar started from the ends of his mouth and extended up like it was part of his mouth in a smile. He was bruised and a few open cuts were on his body, he glared at E.N.D as he arrived, only to receive a look of indifference. The front of his clothes was covered in blood, but from the smell of it, it wasn't his.

His eyes drifted to a young girl that was standing behind him, she shook harder as his steel gaze rested on her, a small whimper let loose from her lips as she stepped back into Kyouka who had a firm grip on her arm. Her blonde hair was loose in her hairband and flowed on her shoulders, her brown eyes wide in fright. Someone else's blood was also soaked on the front of her, some were splashed on her face. He sneered at her.

"How exactly is a child meant to entertain me? She will barely put up a fight." He made his way slowly over to them, taking his time, hands held behind his back. He stopped in front of the man and looked down at him, the man began to open his mouth but was hit back to the floor by Mard Geer, a bruise darkened on his forehead colouring itself to a murky green and purple.

"We were going to get rid of her but she has some interesting magic that's quite rare now these days." Seilah chucked him a bundle of keys that shone in gold and silver, E.N.D inspected it and analyzed each key with patience, silence filled the room, the only sound was of the man's heavy breathing and the girls occasional whimper.

"So she's a Celestial Mage, interesting indeed." He lifted his gaze to meet the girl's and took in her features. "No doubt that she's a Heartfilia, what's your name?" the blonde stiffened and didn't utter a word. Kyouka growled and settled her claws in her hair and gave it a rough tug, she yelped in pain as the tears that were at the edges of her eyes finally fell and streaked down her cheeks.

"Answer when Lord E.N.D addresses you, girl."

"Now, now Kyouka no need to be so hard on her." E.N.D let out a laugh. "So, are you actually gonna tell me your name?" He folded his arms and tapped his foot.

"I-it's a pleasure to meet you m-my Lord, I-I-I am Lucy Heartfilia." Despite the tight grip that Kyouka had on hair she curtsied with her hands slightly lifting at the edges of her ruined pale blue nightdress.

"Hmmm, so she's an educated brat. Now, who is this pathetic worm knelt down before me." E.N.D paced around the man.

"Zoldeo you bastard! And if you thin-" He was silenced when E.N.D sent a swift kick to his face causing him to sprawl on the floor, he had no time to recover as he was delivered a harsh kick to the ribs, Zoldeo shouted in pain as he coughed out some blood that trickled from the side of his mouth. 

"Seems like you're quite the mouthy one. Perhaps I should teach you a lesson, I'm pretty sure you're dying to be taught it. Say Mard Geer," he twirled the set of keys in a clawed finger "What do you suggest I do with these keys? I have no use for them." He spoke in a bored tone. Lucy stilled and watched E.N.D with careful eyes, Mard Geer quickly glanced at her and a cold smile spread across his lips.

"Perhaps you should melt them down Lord E.N.D. Mard Geer is sure they could be made into some nice accessories for you."

"NO! PLEASE DON'T THEY'RE THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT! I'LL DO ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE DON'T HURT THEM, P-Please..." Lucy struggled to get out of Kyouka's grip as tears streamed down her face, a hand reached out to him. Kyouka shoved her to the ground onto her knees, using her Echancement curse to enhance the sensitivity to pain, the girl let out a strangled howl through bit lips. Teeth digging hard into the flesh as blood seeped through the tears that she created. E.N.D waved a hand at Kyouka to signal her to stop, he took his time as he stalked towards the girl.

"Your only family?" He asked as he paced around her.

"Y-yes, papa has been distant and mean ever since mama got ill." She instinctively raised a hand to cup her cheek, he narrowed his already thing pupils and his jaw was set tight.

"So the bastard was grief-stricken enough to hit his own daughter?" He spat, the young stellar mage wordlessly nodded only causing E.N.D to let out a low hiss. "What despicable creatures humans are, they go as far to hurt their own children?"

"My oh my Master." Seilah raised a hand to cover her mouth, a small giggle was let loose. "You're almost making me feel sorry for the girl~" E.N.D rolled his eyes at her before turning back to face Lucy where he had come around to the front of her again.

"And your mother?"

She shakily rose a hand at Kyouka. "M-mama asked her t-to kill her." Her voice wobbled as tear filled her eyes once again, the pinkette rose an eyebrow at Kyouka who shrugged.

"The woman was at her death bed, I was doing her a favour. Never thought I would see a human be so...nice." The demoness frowned at the memory.

_Layla Heartfilia had been in her bedroom with her daughter when they came to the mansion. The Heartfilia Estate was the closest settlement to where the Cube was currently aimlessly drifting. Mard Geer had taken Zoldeo captive just as the man killed a green-haired woman off the edge of the Estate, he had found two Zodiac keys between the two and took them, while Tartarus has no use for them they were quite useful. Seilah and Kyouka had been making their way through the house, dispatching of any servants that got in their way eventually they had stumbled across the dying woman and her child. Layla didn't have long left of her life, Seilah predicted another week and she'd be gone, when they had entered she had smiled softly at them and welcomed them in, asking why a Dark Guild had come to her home. Lucy hugged closer to her mother, the older woman creating soothing circles on her child's back, her other hand went to the Gate keys that rested on the side table. Seilah asked if there were any other mages in the area, although this woman was wizard she barely had enough magical energy to summon a Celestial Spirit, let alone a silver gate._

_She shook her head, telling her that the closest mage was a few towns over, Seilah commented on her current health an the woman had sighed, the tiredness clearly shown on her face._

_"I know, I wish I didn't have to leave Lucy so soon, I won't be able to watch my star grow up, fall in love and have children of her own." Stroking Lucy's hair._

_"What do you mean mama? Why are you leaving?" She looked at her mother in confusion, Layla looked at Lucy in pity and cupped her cheek._

_"Sweetie, I'll be leaving you soon, believe me when I say that I would do everything in my power to stay with you but this is quite out of my hands. I'm going to need you to be strong for you and your father."_

_"But I don't want you to go! I don't want to be left alone with daddy!" She sobbed into her mothers chest._

_"I can end you suffering right now." Layla paused, seeming to remember the presence of the two demonesses. "I can kill you right now so you don't have to continue your suffering." Layla bit at her lips, her eyes stayed on her daughter._

_"Lucy."_

_"Yes mama?"_

_"I'm going to need you to be brave for me, look after yourself and your father. Remember no matter what you do I'll always love you."_

_"Mama?" Lucy looked up at her mother, only to meet her glassy brown eyes, dulled of life. Red began to start soaking on the front of her dress, a gaping hole where her heart must've been, she let out a final gasp of breath and fell backwards onto the bed, a smile graced her face as she stopped moving._

_"Mama? Mama? Why are you bleeding? Mama? Mama? MAMA!"_

"Hmm, she doesn't sound that bad for a human, I would have loved to meet her."

"What are you going to do with me?" She nervously looked at him through her lashes. E.N.D mused as he drew nearer to her, _she's pretty cute when she's nervous_.

"I suppose you can live..." He lifted his claws to tilt her chin up, staring intensely into his eyes, even though she was scared her chesnut eyes were kind and tender, it reminded him of the feeling of coming home. She'd have to stay then so that she could become part of his home. "Let's get you cleaned up before we discuss what we shall do with you. Keep the brute there, I'll _play_ with him later." E.N.D dragged Lucy up, the girl nearly stumbling over as she scurried to keep up with the Demon Lord.

"Seems like Master had taken a liking to her." Mard Geer frowned.

"Well she is cute, and doesn't seem that bad for a human." 

"We could raise her as own of our own demons, she could prove to be useful in missions that require us to...meddle with the humans." Kyouka suggested, Mard Geer smirked as he chained Zoldeo to the wall. A dark look crossed his face as he lost himself in his thoughts.

"If they were to have a child it's magic would prove to be quite interesting." Kyouka and Mard Geer sighed as Seilah was lost in her own little world.

* * *

**A week later at the Fairy Tail Guild Hall...**

Anna sighed as she dragged Sting off Rogue, out of all the dragon slayers they were the closest and almost like brothers. Which only lead for them to fight like brothers did as well. Wendy clutched onto Gajeel's hand, the elder boy huffing at the two younger dragon slayers.

"When will you to learn not to fight when Anna-sensei is here?" He grumbled, despite the hard look that he had on his face his crimson eyes twinkled with fondness and amusement.

"But you always fight with Natsu-nii when he's here." Rogue pointed out, Gajeel scowled at him.

"Where is Natsu-nii Sensei?" Sting tilted his head, Anna gave him a soft smile, the boy sure was cute, she was happy that she would be the one to raise them.

"I'm afraid that I don't know Sting. I had Makarov go to where Natsu should've landed but he wasn't there. We've come to the Guild to see if any of the Guild members have heard or seen him and for another matter." She hesitated at the last part, she swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and opened the doors to the Guild. As per usual noise filtered through the air, there wasn't much of a fight going on but she had came just in time to see Erza and Mirajane about to start a fight, that would only lead to all the dragon slayers except Wendy, to join in, and she just didn't have time for that.

"Anna, it's good to see you!" Enno called out from her place on one of the tables where she was dancing, her sudden stop in her dance routine caught the attention of the other members that were watching her.

"Those the other dragon slayers with ya?"

"It's been a while how have you been?" The other children of the Guild wondered over, the few times that Anna had been here they had come to love her.

"It's nice to see you all, is Makarov here?"

"I'm over here Anna." The older man was sat on the bar with a wooden mug of beer that he was guzzling down. Next to him his grandson, Laxus, was leaning on the bar, a small scowl on his face.

"Makarov, it's good to see you here. I trust that you've been doing well too Laxus." Laxus grunted and took off his spiked headphones, Sting frowned at him and walked towards him, sniffing around him.

"The hell you doing?" The older lightning mage seethed as he edged away from the young dragon slayer.

"You smell." Sting bluntly said, everyone sweat dropped at his response, Makarov watching worriedly, hoping that Laxus wouldn't lash out at the boy. Laxus raised an eyebrow waiting for Sting to develop his answer. "You're a dragon slayer too, aren't you?" 

"How did you know?"

Sting tapped his nose, "All dragon slayers have that slight smell of a dragon, you're a thunder lightning slayer. I'm Sting, the light dragon slayer and that's Rogue the shadow dragon slayer." Sting pointed at Rogue who sulked over to him.

"I can introduce myself thanks Sting."

"But you don't like crowds so I thought I'd help you out." Sting pouted.

"Sting meant well Rogue, no need to get upset with him." Rogue blushed and looked away, mumbling an apology under his breath.

"And what slayer are you?" Laus nodded his head towards Gajeel.

"Gajeel, the iron dragon slayer." He gently tugged at Wendy's hand, forcing the girl to come out from behind Gajeel's leg. "Come on Wendy, introduce yourself." The girl blushed in apprehension and lifted a curled fist to her face.

"H-hi, I'm Wendy a-and I'm the sky dragon slayer." She stepped back into Gajeel in an attempt to hide herself from the prying eyes of the Guild, Gajeel chuckled and ruffled her hair.

The other children waved at her with bright smiles, only causing the young girl to hide into Gajeel's side further.

"It's lovely to meet you all, I assume that you've come here about Natsu?" The dragon slayers straightened and watched Makarov like a predator would watch it's prey, their pupils thinned, senses gone haywire. Anna nodded her head and waited for the Guild Master's response in anticipation. "I'm afraid we still haven't found him. There's been no word of any random fires. None of the other Guild's have seen the boy either." He sighed, placing down his empty mug onto the counter, whines were let out from the dragon slayers, Sting paced stamping his feet and grunting in annoyance. 

"I see, I've also come for another matter." This caught Makarov's attention. She continued. "The husband of one of my descendants reached out to me a few days ago. While he was out on a business trip his wife was murdered, along with a few of the servants and their daughter hasn't been seen since." She gravely spoke.

"That's horrible! Who would do such a thing?!" Lisanna cried out.

"From the statements that the surviving servants gave they were demons. And the Guild mark was Tartarus" Silence filled the Guild hall.

"What?" Gray, stared at Anna, horror clearly implanted on his face. "Demons?" He whispered, he stumbled back and fell to the floor. 

"Gray?" Erza asked, cautiously stepped towards him. She gently rested a hand on his shoulder, he looked up at her with wet eyes. "He's gone Gray, he can't hurt you no more." She softly spoke.

"But there's more." He cried.

"They're demons Gray, I can just soul takeover them and we won't have to worry." Mira confidently grinned at him.

"What business does Tartarus have with the Heartfilia's?" Macao asked.

"That, I have no idea, the fact that Tartarus is active is certainly a worry."

"Isn't Tartarus a Dark Guild?" Levy asked.

"Yes, they are also part of the Balam Alliance, they're the strongest Dark Guild out there." Wakaba puffed out some smoke from his pipe.

"Why do they have demons in their Guild?" Levy asked, her curiosity starting to take over her.

Anna exchanged looks with Makarov who shrugged, leaving the decision up to her. "What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, none of you can tell anyone what I tell you at all." The severe look that crossed her face shook them a bit, they had never seen a look like that on her face. The Guild nodded and the blonde Celestial Mage exhaled.

"The Tartarus Guild is composed of demons, more specifically demons of the Books of Zeref. I'm worried about what they wanted with Layla so I asked an old friend to meet me here to see if she knows about it." The doors opened capturing the attention of the stilled members. A woman stalked towards Anna in a cloak that completely concealed her form, her footsteps made loud clicks echo across the hall.

She stopped in front of Anna, she was tall, possibly at least 6 foot. "Anna, I haven't seen you in over 400 years."

"It's been some time hasn't it Mint?" 

Mint snorted and placed a hand onto her hip. "You don't say." She drawled sarcastically. Mira carefully treaded towards her, pushing her siblings back.

"What are you?" She spat out, Mint glanced down at the demon takeover mage in amusement.

"Whatever do you mean little one?~" She sang, only causing Mira to seethe.

"You know what I mean, and don't call me little one!"

"Sweetie, I'm 423 years old, to me you are definitely a 'little one'. So what did you need me for Anna." She sat down on a bar stool beckoning Anna to follow, she sat down and pulled Wendy into her lap.

"Tartarus attacked and killed one of my descendants and have possibly kidnapped her daughter, do you know anything of it?"

"Wow, straight to the point Anna, time travel sure does change a woman eh?" She giggled.

"Just answer Mint." Mint rested her head in a covered hand, humming to herself.

"Well I'm not surprised that they've gone and killed her. She was the one that opened the Eclipse Gate right?" Anna nodded. "They have been active as of late, I say in the past month, in fact I'm meeting with Mard Geer after this to discuss alliances." She said a bit too cheerfully, clearly not reading the tense atmosphere.

"Why would demons want to meet with a _human_ for alliances?" Elfman asked quite confused.

"Yeah why would you willingly meet with a _demon_? They're _evil_."

"Gray, careful with your words." Anna hissed at him.

Mint laughed and shook her head. "Since when did I ever say that I was human?" She mused as she removed her hood, the Guild gasped as they took in her features. She had large, turquoise eyes with long eyelashes, her mint hair, clearly hinting at where she got her name from, was plaited into a braid. Long ears poked out from the side of her head, a deer nose replaced where her nose should have been.

"You're a demon!" Gray yelled, Mint rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm a fish. Is that all Anna, I must get back in time for the meeting." She arose from her seat.

"Why are you meeting with Tartarus Mint? You know that they don't mean any good." Anna grabbed her arm.

"Maybe, but their top priority has always remained the same since they were founded. To protect their own, we've been organising this meeting for a year now, it would be rude of me to miss it."

"There's no way that they're protecting their own! Demons killed my parents and caused my whole village to hate me!" Mint let loose a hollow laugh at Mira.

"So just because a select few of demons of done bad that automatically makes me bad?" She motioned to herself.

"Of course it does!" Gray shouted. Mint snarled, her mouth stretching into a vicious scowl that revealed the rows of razor sharp teeth that was hidden in her mouth.

"So my mother and her friends, some of the nicest demons I knew, they went out of their way to help you humans and do you want to know they help that they got? Cold, blooded murder, for doing nothing evil, only juts because they were evil. Is it really that hard to realize that there's good in bad? If there can be humans, just as evil as a demon can be why can't demons be good as well?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So everyone excited to see Lucy ;)))


	4. In this together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demons band together to finally build alliances and some light is shed for Fairy Tail

Mint brought her hands up to between her eyes and began to massage the area as her face frowned. "I really must be going now Anna, if I happen to see the little star there I _might_ tell you." She shrugged beginning to rise from her seat completely ignoring some of the glares that were being thrown her way. 

"But she's Anna's descendant! She has a right to know!" Wendy protested from Anna's lap, Mint looked down at her, her eyes analyzing the young sky dragon slayer who held her gaze with the demoness.

"If I've been asked not to mention the young one being held captive by Tartarus then I simply cannot, while I do have a high position within the Natural-born demons Mard Geer holds a higher position than me. If they're desperate they may even make it part of the agreement for me to not mention her at all."

"So you will be forming an alliance with Tartarus regardless then?" Anna looked at her disapprovingly.

"Oh don't look at me like that Annie!" Mint giggled and rested her hands onto her shoulders. "The Magic Council have been capturing and killing a lot of us lately, if I have to form an alliance with Tartarus to keep us safe from your kind then so be it, if I have to go to war with your kind to ensure our protection and survival then so be it, if you don't want any issues with us then I advise you talk to your poor excuse of a government, cause if this continues, we just might have to take over the continent!" She stepped back from Anna, holding her hands together behind her back, and gave her an over the top toothy, cheery smile. "I really hope we never come to that Anna, it would be a shame if I had to kill you." An arm was folded across her front and held the elbow of the other arm that was currently cupping her cheek, a dreamy smile crossed her face.

"Is that an unspoken threat for war?" Erza stepped towards her, her hand placed on the sword that rested on her hip.

"Nope." She popped the 'p', the green-haired woman began taking steps back, retreating towards the Guild Doors. "I'm just saying one of the likely possibilities that may occur in the future, I did tell you how you could stop it from happening and where my loyalties will lie."

"If a war does break out Fairy Tail will be prepared to take you down." Makarov hardened his gaze at her, Mint looked at him pityingly.

"What do you know Mint?" Anna placed Wendy onto the barstool as she stood up, the woman didn't respond but did send her a smug look as she placed a finger to her lips and finally stalked out of the Guild doors. The silence was spread throughout the Guildhall, Makarov turned to look at the Heartfilia.

"Did she know something?" Anna bit her lip and frowned at the ground.

"She has two friends who are able to read the future, Umiko the Witch of the Seas and Latanya, the High Mage of the Faeries."

"Fairies are real?!" Levy bounced over, her eyes sparkling, light chatter filled the Hall at the information they just received. "So do Faires have an alliance with demons too then? Why? I thought Fairies were kind gentle creatures?" The blonde let out a nervous chuckle as she spoke again.

"Oh no Levy dear, Fairies often get mixed up with Pixies. Fairies are trouble makers, very mischievous, and cruel at times. It's not an alliance, Fairies are in fact demons too."

"WHAT!"

**Meanwhile at the Tartarus GuildHall...**

E.N.D glared at the ground as he sat cross-legged on his bed, why did humans take so long to clean themselves up and get changed. He puffed out his cheeks and fell back on his bed as his bed and stared at the ceiling, he had a meeting with the leaders of the Natural-Born demons, for some reason Mard Geer thought it would be 'fun' to tell him only a couple of minutes ago, he let out a small glare as he sat back up, he could hear the padding of the Lucy girl towards his door. His bathroom door slowly opened (she had forced him to let her get changed in the bathroom as he refused to change in the same room as him, something about human relationship customs) and stepped out, she had a grip on the dress and quickly fixed her eyes to the ground.

"Took you long enough." He grunted as he got up from his bed and paced towards her. "Why do you fix your gaze to the ground? It's rude you know." He lifted her chin up so that she would be looking at him. She flushed and began stammering out her answer.

"P-pap said that a Lady doesn't look unless spoken to. It's improper." Lucy fidgeted with the dress that she wore.

"So humans see women as being beneath them? That's stupid." He snorted out and let out a laugh, his mouth wide and teeth on full display.

"You have really sharp teeth." She blurted out, quickly covering her mouth as if she made a mistake, she hastily apologized and dipped her head. The pinkette quirked an eyebrow and sighed. 

"Let me guess, a Lady only speaks when spoken to?" Lucy nodded and E.N.D shook his head. He gripped her shoulders and looked intensely into her eyes. "If you're gonna be living here you should know that everyone is else is equal regardless of gender, and you look at everyone as your equal." The blonde nodded, E.N.D stepped back and turned towards the doors. "That's if you want to stay if you wanted I will let you go but under the policy that you don't tell anyone that you were in contact with Tartarus and that instead, you ran away when they attacked."

"I-I could stay? Of my own free will?"

"What did I just tell you?" E.N.D was about to turn around to direct his glower on her but was stopped as she hugged him from behind.

"I'd like that very much, I want to stay, there's nothing for me at home now that mama's gone, you've been nice to me E.N.D." E.N.D stiffened in her hold, the last one to have given him a high was Igneel and that was a stretch cause there was only so much of a hug a dragon could give with the comparison of size in mind. He liked this, it was actually quite nice, he placed a claw on top of her hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Natsu."

"Pardon?"

"Natsu, that's my name before I was E.N.D, but only call me that when we're alone alright?"

"Ok, thanks Natsu." E.N.D rolled his eyes, it was fine if she called him that name. She had no real attachment to it, maybe he could still be one person despite the differences that were between the two identities, he'd need time to blend the two together but he'll get there in the end.

"I have a meeting to attend in a couple of minutes. You'll be with me too." he unwrapped her hands from around his waist and clutched one of her hands in his claw and lead them out of his door, he briskly walked down the corridors towards the room that often held councils for wars, it was a little out of the way but he'd get there in time. As he rushed them down the hallways he was still met with the same respect from the demons and demonesses he passed but they locked their eyes onto Lucy they gave a range of reactions: some snarled; others hissed; or some looked at her confused, wondering why she even existed there at that moment in time; a few even completely ignored her. Overall their looked were critical and judged her, he didn't blame them, humans had never been kind to them, it rarely ever happened, if Lucy wanted to find a place in here she would have to go out of her way to earn it.

He angled his head slightly to catch a glimpse of how she was currently handling her situation. The stellar mage had put on a brave face, he could see that she was scared but he wouldn't deny that he was impressed, he wondered if it had something to do with being a Heartfilia or if it was just who she was. The Heartfilia's all seemed to be quite stubborn and fearless to some extent, he knew very well if any other human girl was in Lucy's shoes they would've been bawling and maybe even shit their pants.

Eventually, they reached the room, E.N.D pushed open the doors and took a brief glance around the room, and headed to his seat at the head of the table. 400 years ago they had occupied the room quite often, he had grown to love the seat, it was comfy. It was crafted out of dark wood, details of some of his most famous endeavors were carved along the sides. The actual seat and the backrest of the seat were pushed with a maroon cushion. He sat down in the seat and leaned onto the back of the seat, he closed his eyes in a split second of bliss before opening them again to look at who was currently with him in the room, Lucy had taken her place behind his chair and slightly to the left.

The rest of the Nine Demon Gates was sitting the closest to him, Kyouka and Mard Geer were seated the closest. He fixed his eyes on the other occupants that would be with him that day: The Witch of the Seas, The High Mage of the Faeries, The Dragon Lord, The Enchantress of the Forests, and the Destroyer of Earth.

They weren't the same demons and demonesses that sat with him 400 years ago, he wondered how many have taken the titles since his centuries of absence, it annoyed him really, that he had spent the large majority of his time building up power and authority among demon-kind. Most of it was to make his purpose of returning to Zeref easier but to also ensure that if he was ever to find a way to make the Etherious demons stay alive after they returned to Zeref that there would be something to do. That they could find another purpose in their lives, he wanted that, it sounded permanent.

The Witch of the Seas was a busty Cecaelia, her red hair was pinned back with seashells and an assortment of silver jewelry. She wore a pair of large clamshells on her breasts and strings of pearls were covering her shoulders, she wore blue sleeves that were made of fine see-through silk, and a thin blue skirt was worn around her waist and flowed like the waves of the ocean, her eyes were yellow and quite octopus-like, her pupils were horizontal. Her hands were webbed and her ears were finned. Bracelets made of seashells, pearls, and silver jingled along the length of her arms.

Next to her was The Enchantress of the Forests, she was a Faunus, she had large turquoise eyes and massive pupils that took up most of the eye, her deer ears stuck out from the side and through her mint-green hair that was pulled back into a braid. He wouldn't need to look underneath the table to guess that she had shaggy, deer legs instead of more human legs, she wore a traditional outfit that consisted of khaki coloured off-shoulder dress that was embroidered with little black and white flowers. Tassels fell from underneath the embroidery, a similar pattern occurring at the sleeves of the dress. She quirked the side of her lip at Lucy, almost as if she knew something before the look vanished off her face.

After her was The Destroyer of Earth, a Minotaur, she was tall, probably around 6 ft 7" tall, and a gentle smile on her face. Her eyes were a warm honey brown and cinnamon hair that bounced past her cow ears and onto her shoulders. Horns curled up from the top of her head, pointing towards the ceiling. Despite the long white dress that she wore with a simple dark green, tartan dungaree-like dress that was fastened together with brooches E.N.D could still make out the muscle of her arms.

Sitting on the opposite side of the table was a young-looking girl, well he wouldn't call her a 'girl' per se, faeries or as humans liked to call them fairies aged very slowly in the changes of their body, for some it could take 300 years to age ten physically. Her fern hair was messy and short curling around her pointed ears, her mulberry eyes twinkled with mischief, her lips were pulled ever so slightly up into a sarcastic smile. A pair of wings rested on her back, glowing a delicate pale blue. The High Mage of the Faeries wore a two-piece, her green top was off of her shoulders and had long sleeves that pooled around her hands, she paired it with a long light green skirt that most likely met the ground.

Lastly, clasping the hand of the High mage was The Dragon Lord, she has a slight scowl set on her face, her lavender eyes had slitted pupils that glanced at Lucy before settling on him again. Her ivory hair was set in an asymmetrical bob, at the edge of her mouth two large fangs poked out, stretching her lips into an unamused line. Upon her head she has two sets of horns, the first pair at the front rose up and waved to the side slightly upwards while the second pair behind it curled back then forwards as if it was protecting her pointed ears. E.N.D just spotted the folded wings that rested closed behind her back, her scales were white but glisened like a rainbow in the light of the candles. She wore a simple red and black hanfu with gold lining.

E.N.D looked around the table again, he let loose a small grin, he had awaited over 400 years to bring all of demon kind together, this was going to be a century that Fiore, what Ishgar is now called, would experience massive amounts of change. And he was going to have a front row seat.

"Well, shall we commence this meeting?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When this fanfic is finished I might do a crossover with this one and PJO/HoO, I love PJO/HoO!!!


	5. Chapter 5:

Lucy clutched a hand onto her new dress and rolled her shoulders back, straightening her stance. She stared at the door, trying her best to avoid all eye contact with the demons at the table, it wouldn't be proper for a Lady to look at others when they were having a business meeting unless she was directly addressed to, although Lord E.N.D seemed to disagree with all human forms of etiquette. Demons clearly had a much better society in regard to female rights, all of the representatives of what she heard were called Natural-Born demons were women! The young Celestial Mage found this absolutely fascinating, if she could fit into this society then perhaps she could accomplish her dreams. She could write a book or even run a business that helped to encourage young girls like her.

She bit her lips and looked down at the ground, but that was unlikely to happen anytime soon, on the way to this room most of the demons had sent her rather nasty looks, their hate for her kind ran deep and probably vice versa. If she wanted to earn her place along with the demons in her new home she'd have to work for it, hard. Lucy snapped herself out of her thought and tuned back into the discussion.

"-because of Deliora the Magic Council are even more cautious of demons. They've drifted more towards capturing any demons they come across instead of killing, I highly suspect that they're experimenting on them, hoping to find some sort of secret from them." The dragon lady spoke, her name was Ryuu if Lucy remembered correctly.

"If the numbers are increasing then clearly the Magic Council have either gotten a tip on the rough locations of settlements or they have somehow developed a spell that is efficient enough at tracking demons." Mard Geer leaned into one of his hands.

"So wouldn't it be best to counter that if possible? We would first need to know what kind of spell they're using. Does it track by blood, smell? The possibilities are slim but from spells that I know could be altered for this purpose they would be hard to counter." Keyes, the skeleton-like demon said, his mouth didn't appear to move as he spoke which freaked Lucy out a little.

"But how many settlements are there? Will we use ethernano or curses? How much will we cast, how much?" Franmalth chuckled.

"I could see about sending some spies to find out, or set a trap for the council, lure them out and see how they track us." The faery called Latanya piped up.

"I like that idea High Mage." E.N.D nodded his head, his eyes closed as a small smile graced his face. "At this point that could be the best method to approach this situation, we need to remain as inconspicuous as possible." They all nodded at the Demon Lord, he sat up again and slapped his hands together. "Any other matters that wish to be discussed before we move onto settling an alliance."

Umiko raised a tentacle till she was permitted to speak, "I'm struggling to find a suitable port in Fiore that allows us to import and export goods between the seas and lands. The humans are beginning to catch on, and it's starting to have an effect on our resources." Her yellow eyes crinkled with worry. Lucy perked up a little, even though she was still young her father had started her early on lessons to be an Heiress, some of the first few lessons had been about trade in and out of the country, what ports were the most ideal to use and not. E.N.D looked at her from the side of his eyes as he noticed the sudden movement, she caught his eyes for a second before turning back to stare at the door. The fire demon allowed a small smirk to spread across his face.

"Lucy."

"Y-yes My Lord." She stepped up so she was standing directly next to him.

"Your father is a businessman correct?"

"Yes My Lord."

"Would you happen to know what ports in Fiore would be the vest to trade undetected from the Magic Council?" He gestured towards the map that lay in the centre of the oval table, the blonde swallowed a lump in her throat and walked closer to the table. Her eyes grazed over the map, her thought running over the positives and negatives of using each port. After a few seconds, she reached her decision and pointed at the map.

"Hargeon or any of the ports here would be the best. Hargeon is used quite frequently to transport illegal goods to and from Bosco, but it still isn't as heavily guarded as it should be." She ran her finger along south-eastern Fiore.

"I guess that's your answer, thank you, Lucy." Lucy gave a subtle bow before stepping back behind his chair, she was about to continue staring at the door when she felt eyes on her she looked up to meet the stare of the Enchantress of the Forests. Her turquoise eyes seemed to pierce through her soul.

"My Lord if I may ask..." Mint trailed off as she requested permission to speak, E.N.D waved a hand. "Is Lucy related to Anna Heartfilia?" The demons stiffened in their seats and gave wild looks to the Enchantress, slowly they turned to rest their gaze on the blonde who was only looking at E.N.D with a confused face. E.N.D said nothing as he looked at Mint, he took his time as he greeted Lucy's baffled expression, he raked his eyes over her form and settled again on her face, not breaking their eye contact for a good minute.

"Her last name is Heartfilia so I suppose she is related, they do bare a resemblance don't they." E.N.D gave her a cheeky grin and turned back to face his demons.

"What will we do with the girl my Lord?" Seilah asked.

"Will be getting rid of her? I'll gladly do the honour for you Master, you shouldn't have to waste your time on scum like her." Jackal sneered lifting a hand up and let loose a few explosions.

E.N.D fixed his eyes on Jackal and sent him a bone-chilling glare, he bared his teeth and began to stand up from his set. He slammed his claws onto the table and bit out at him. "I dare you, Jackal. I dare you to touch her, she's **mine** and you better not lay one claw on her or else." He hissed, smoke arising from where he had set his claws onto the wood, little wisps of flames leaked from his mouth as he settled back down into his seat, he gave Jackal one last lingering look and turned back to Mint, she carried on.

"Anna asked to talk with me at a Guild she favours earlier today. She wanted to know if Tartarus had taken Lucy."

"Great, now the humans will know that we're active again." Kyouka growled at, slightly annoyed at her own carelessness in enduring that they weren't seen.

"And there's no doubt that Anna told that Guild, but they don't know that Lord E.N.D is back right?" Risha inquired, Mint shook her head.

"That's good, we can't have the human's know at any costs that Lord E.N.D is back." Mard Geer stated. "Now, let's go about discussing the alliance." Lucy zoned out again as they dove into politics, she hated politics, there was always some hidden motive behind each action in the Elite Society of Fiore and she hated that.

**Timeskip: After the Meeting, Lord E.N.D's private chambers...**

E.N.D flopped down onto his bed, he was most definitely going to get Mard Geer back for not telling him about the meeting, he forgot how draining they could be, politics was his worse area of expertise he has always been better on the battlefield after all that is what he was created for.

He turned his head to the side to see where Lucy was, she was currently browsing the single bookshelf that he had in his room, it was mostly full of history, stuff he would need to go over in order to catch up with the 400 years he had missed. She paused over a book about Celestial magic, E.N.D remembered that one, it was written by Anna Heartfilia herself, he wondered how advanced Celestial Magic was now in Fiore today, had any of its secrets been lost when Anna went through the gate? He found the possibility to be quite likely, apparently Celestial Magic was close to being considered a Lost Magic due to how little of the population now practice it, he would have to ask Lucy herself, she should know more.

”You interested in the book?” His voice started the blonde, she whipped around to face him and a heavy blush coated her face, probably in embarrassment at being caught.

”Y-yes I mean no, my Lord.” She stammered out, E.N.D laughed at her and sat up on his bed.

”When we’re alone it’s Natsu’s remember,” she nodded her head, “and if you want to read any of my books you have my permission.” She beamed at him, stars seeming to sparkle in her eyes, she gave him a close eyes grin.

”Thank you Natsu.” She gave a hurried curtsy and turned around to take the book off the shelf, she strode over to where he was sitting on the bed and gently sat down, she opened the book and began to read. He glanced at her from where he was sat up, she was very immersed in it, her eyes hungrily raking over the words on the page sometimes going back over things she didn’t quite understand. He laid back down and placed his hands behind his head, it was peaceful, demons usually weren’t ones for peace but for some reason he enjoyed it.

He nearly dozed off when Lucy spoke up. “What did you mean when you said that I was... _yours_?” Her tone was mostly curious but he could hear a tone of disdain at the end. He opened his eyes and tilted his head to gaze at her, she wasn’t looking at him but she had her eyes focused on the book, she wasn’t reading it though. Her hands were clutching the book tightly.

”I feel as if you don’t like that? What does it mean in the human world.”   
  


“It means that you’re someone else’s property, like a belonging.” E.N.D made a face. In Demon culture there wasn’t really a thing of quite ‘belonging’ to a person, when someone says that they own you it was meant as romantic gestures, a declaration of friendship, or putting someone under your protection.

”You don’t own someone in our culture, I meant it as putting you under my protection, we demons are quite possessive, so you’ll see a lot of that with your time with us.” Lucy finally looked down to meet his eyes. “You really need to take some lessons on Demon culture, there appears to be a bigger difference between ours than I thought. You’ll start tomorrow Seilah will be your tutor.” She nodded again and went back to reading her book, for the rest of the evening they remained in comfortable silence, Lucy continued to absorb the content of the book while E.N.D dozed on and off, thinking of the plans he had for the future.

**The Next Day, The Dining Room,**

E.N.D grinned as he dug into the raw meat on his plate, according to Lucy humans couldn't eat raw meat as it would make them sick, they really were missing out on some good opportunities. He licked his tongue across his lips, savouring the taste of animal blood, raw pig was his favourite to eat, he was glad that the guild still maintained the farm that they kept for food, it prevented them from having to raid human towns for food and bein targeted, then again demons didn't need to eat as often as a human did.

Lucy pursed her lips as she watched him slide a slab of raw gammon into his mouth, he gave her a toothy grin chomping down on his meal. "Is there an issue, Lucy?" The blonde wrinkled her nose and focused on her own meal.

"No my Lord, I'm just shocked that demons are able to eat raw meat." She cut herself a piece out of her pancakes and nibbled on it. Jacka snorted, swallowing his food.

"Do humans really have stomachs that weak?" 

"I suppose so, if food isn't cooked right we get food poisoning. It might have something to do with how our bodies work." Lucy mused.

"We have been out of contact with humans for quite a while, we should revisit the limits of the human body, don't you say Master E.N.D?" Kyouka swiped a finger through the blood that was pooled on her plate, she lifted up the finger and sucked on it, letting out a happy moan. E.N.D tapped his nails on the table deep in thought, the rest of the Demon Gates sat patiently and waited for their master to answer.

"Hmmm, you're definitely right Kyouka, if we want to get any work done in this country we must become more familiar with current news. Tempester, I want you to find a way that we can stay up to date with current affairs without the humans knowing how active we are."

"Of course my Lord, I will get started on my task right away."

"Seilah, I'd like you to tutor Lucy on demon customs and culture and also compare human and demon customs as well."

"Yes Master E.N.D."

"So the human really is staying with us then?" Keyes said.

"Yes, she will be of use to us in the future...and she smells nice," E.N.D muttered the last part to himself but they all still heard him, Seilah chuckled to herself and began whispering to Kyouka who sent E.N.D a smug look.

" ** _Seems like you just might have found your life partner Lord E.N.D._** " She laughed more as the fire demon sent her a glare, Lucy simply cocked her head as she couldn't understand. " _ **Will we be expecting cambions in the next ten years?**_ " Her painted lips stretched into a further smirk as his irritation reached its peak.

"SHUT UP!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the chapter is long enough but the next chapter will definitely be longer, I'll finally be introducing the demon culture into the story, I have to do a lot of research so it may take some time but I shall try to have it done soon.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. My first large change will be that Anna Heartfilia will be more present in this timeline, I didn't like how she just fucked off as soon as she arrived in the future lost them the found them, and was like 'I'll leave them they're innocent'. Not anymore, honey, Anna is actually gonna be training them which I think is pretty cool.
> 
> 2\. We're going to be seeing a lot of E.N.D and Natsu and from the way that Mashima portrayed it in the series it seemed more like E.N.D and Natsu are more like the same person rather than separate people, like E.N.D is all of the anger and hatred inside of Natsu maximized so I'm taking it as like some personality has been added onto Natsu.
> 
> 3\. Since I'm recreating old fanfic I was writing on Wattpad (again) I still want to put in my demon OC characters cause as we know in Earthland there are natural-born demons (Galuna Island) sp why can't there be hundreds of hidden communities that hid from humanity for over 400 years.
> 
> 4\. There will be a lot of darker themes in it like gore, murder, torture, and blood (it's Tartarus if there isn't a lot of blood then what's the point), I will try my best to represent these as accurately as I can, after all without Natsu and Lucy in some of the arcs there will be a lot of differences, maybe I might skip out some arc's completely maybe I won't but bare in mind I'm still building up the new storyline and I'll have some time to sort that out as I am writing another fanfic at the same time as this, there are still some chapters (no idea how many) to go before I start from the original storyline of Fairy Tail and I'm in year 13 I have a lot of work to catch up on and do so there will be slow updates.


End file.
